i actually took the time to look at both submissions and i'm going to be completely honest here

but to me the quality of the cards in this round is a lot lower than what i've come to expect from these two fine gentlekrauls

Tbh, I completely agree with Silly here.

Already voted for Libe. But I thought that since it is finals and it is bout commander, I wanna do a write up. The original post droned on for too long so I cut it down.

My babbling

First pair of CommandersI like Curcius more. Feels like a commander old hands at EDH would wanna try building. Artifacts are broken bah bah but Bane of Progress becomes a one-sided Decree of Annihilation so it balances out to me. Flavor is better too.Gix is alright, straight to the point with a powerful effect but I tend to see it as a UB Mikaeus without the sick recursion interactions. Horror because phyrexian? Flavor is weaker to me, it is a reshaper but you pretty much get the same creature back.

Signature spellsObsession tells me more bout Curcius and it fits Curcius's motives and ability. Flavor is certainly stronger. Repetition 'issue' but I believe it is also the responsibility of the other players to disrupt it. It is EDH after all. My concern is actually whether the other decks have a way to break the loop out-of-the-box.Experiment feels like something that Gix already does, kinda like renaming Liquimetal Coating as Curcius's Coating. I do like the card itself though.

New face commandersIndividually, both are kinda meh to me, lacks the oof factor. Between all four decks, I am actually most curious to see how the defender deck is like though. Brynjar needs an ability to convey that special message. Wording is fine, probably to allow unblockable creatures safe passage but if so, kinda burns itself with its flavor text. Slapping evoke on a commander is interesting but same issue with eminence, no one would want to pay full cost and keep it around on-board, especially with the increasing tax with each evoke. Unlike the eminence commander cycle however, Asperos's static abilities isn't strong enough. The plus side is that it works well with cast trigger cards? Feels like it lost its original intention of being a commander beatstick though.

Signature spellsArtisan is bland, just another tutor. However, the artisan part in its name sparked some ideas in my head about how the Brynjar deck be like. Probably full of those titanic defender constructs that Wizards like printing?Influence is two incoherent ability meant to be tied together by Asperos. Kinda meh. But even so, as stated in my comments bout Asperos, I have doubts seeing Asperos being on-board to stay. By itself, it also somewhat goes against Asperos implied go wide strategy since the most prominent creature in green that comes to mind that can take advantage of the turn influence lands are hydras which is certainly not go wide save for Hooded Hydra. Maybe wg explore?

Legacy thingyI don't play legacy so points might be wayyyy off. Divulge is nice. Creates a tension about wanting to cast it first for value. Makes decisions harder too. However, break legacy and before? I am not too sure. EDH-wise, seems like a weird fit in Curcius.Unfortunately for False Life, it is 4 cmc and Omnitell is still a thing in legacy. I can't see why people would wanna try. EDH-wise, False Life makes a better fit than Divulge. Edit: I also don't think the "as though evoke" wording works. Should be along the lines of "Until end of turn or until you cast a creature spell, creature cards in your hand has Evoke ." imo.

Mana RockRegalia costs 4cmc. At 4cmc, I expect two mana to the mana pool. Wording is strange. Had to read it carefully twice before I get how much 'that much' is. Not a fan.Tether, on the other hand, I originally thought it felt too powerful but after some thought, decided it is alright. Forcing players to choose between mana or keeping it open. Maybe make it cost 1 mana to activate.

*"To YMTC it up" means to design cards that have value mostly from a design perspective. i.e. you would put them in a case under glass in your living room and visitors could remark upon the wonderful design principles, with nobody ever worring if the cards are annoying/pointless/confusing in actual play

Oh most certainly. I've got tons of prizes. Let's say everybody that made top 4 gets 1 game.1st place has to get the bestest prize, so... 2 games? It's tempting to scale up beyond that, but I don't think people feel much better getting 3 games instead of 2.

*"To YMTC it up" means to design cards that have value mostly from a design perspective. i.e. you would put them in a case under glass in your living room and visitors could remark upon the wonderful design principles, with nobody ever worring if the cards are annoying/pointless/confusing in actual play

Pro Tour: YMTC: SECOND ONE IS OVER STAY TUNED FOR THIRD ONEThe BLOCK I'm currently pretending I'll finish:Fleets Of Ossia (complete!) | Wavebreak (complete!) | The Second Flood (in progress!)Razorborne and friends teach music theory to chumps like you:12tone

Gix, the Reshaper - True this should work off of Horrors, not tokens, but otherwise it's an inspiring choice of commander. Like Crucius, it is perhaps a little too good a card. It's also a decent representation of lore as I understand it. OZ

Gix's Experimentation - Solid in the deck or outside it. You can pull off some tricks with this that will feel seriously satisfying. OZ

Crucius, Perfection Seeker - A very basic concept, but one that leads to all sorts of fun deckbuilding opportunity. And now you can really go nuts with it since it's available from your command zone. Good lore implementation too. Probably too good, but not by all that much. Li

Brynjar, the Cloistered King - I get a kazuul, tyrant of the cliffs vibe here. It's not a hugely inspiring or practical commander, but it's a great propaganda effect for multiplayer. I love the card. It helps if you don't think of it as a commander, but a component. This would be a great card for the Partner mechanic. I also like the flavour. Li

The just good

Refractory Regalia - This is an inspiring card. It's not as if I need much inspiration to delve into multicolor insanity, but I feel like even a sane person would see this and catch my madness. This is just such obvious Johnny bait. Li

Command Tether - A very basic idea, leads to a some repetitiveness. Seems balanced, but not perfectly developed- the two functions clash somewhat and the whole feels somehow off. OZ

Brynjar's Artisan - It works. Li

Divulge - So it's a discard spell that can hit anything, but costs 2 mana? And then you can play the card, but they may get their card back and hardly be affected? I don't really understand. But I guess it's cool and it definitely can be put to use. Li

Asperos, the Bestower - A +1/+1 counters lord is a cool idea. The implementation is only so-so however. It feels like the Selesnyan interpretation of the idea rather than the best one. I don't see how the evoke ability ties in. This card really didn't need the complexity, cool as an evoke commander would be on its own. OZ

The not good

False Life - A neat card, but it's been done before and this card doesn't do it all that differently. I suppose that being somewhat weaker version of Flash qualifies it as a better Flash? OZ

Asperos's Influence - This feels like it couldn't possibly exist if it weren't for the commander it accompanies. If I saw it on its own I would be nonplussed. OZ

Crucius's Obsession - I worry that this card is too dangerous to exist (Except maybe in legacy formats). A reusable tutor is both dangerous and repetitive. This feels like the legacy card more than the commander tie-in. Was it supposed to be both? Li

Interesting to note that my ranking is very different from Hello World's.

Methodology:

Not a great methodology

Add up the numbers. Lowest score is best. But to make it confusing, lets add multipliers to each category. x0.5, x1 and x1.5

I really should have reverse the order of everything and made the difference between cards in the same bracket count for more among the top bracket instead of the lowest. Maybe I'll fix it tomorrow. I already spent too long doing this. That and I should check my math at a more godly hour. In either event, the lower, better score goes to Libe.

*"To YMTC it up" means to design cards that have value mostly from a design perspective. i.e. you would put them in a case under glass in your living room and visitors could remark upon the wonderful design principles, with nobody ever worring if the cards are annoying/pointless/confusing in actual play

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